This article documents child suicide rates from 1980 to 2020 in the United States using the National Vital Statistics System Multiple Cause of Death database. After generally declining for decades, suicide rates among children aged 10–17 accelerated from 2011 to 2018 in an unprecedented rise in both duration and magnitude. I consider the role of the illicit opioid crisis in driving this mental health crisis. In August 2010, an abuse-deterrent version of OxyContin was introduced and the original formulation was removed from the market, leading to a shift to illicit opioids and stimulating growth in illicit opioid markets. Areas more exposed to reformulation—as measured by pre-reformulation rates of OxyContin misuse in the National Survey on Drug Use and Health—were more affected by the transition to illicit opioids and experienced sharper growth in child suicide rates. The evidence suggests that children's illicit opioid use did not increase, implying that the illicit opioid crisis engendered higher suicide propensities by increasing suicidal risk factors for children, such as increasing rates of child neglect and altering household living arrangements. In complementary analyses, I document how living conditions declined for children during this time period.

中文翻译：

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非法阿片类药物危机期间儿童自杀率上升


本文使用国家生命统计系统多因死亡数据库记录了 1980 年至 2020 年美国的儿童自杀率。在经历了几十年的普遍下降之后，10-17 岁儿童的自杀率从 2011 年到 2018 年加速上升，持续时间和幅度都出现了前所未有的上升。我认为非法阿片类药物危机在推动这场心理健康危机中所扮演的角色。 2010 年 8 月，奥施康定的防滥用版本推出，原始配方从市场上撤出，导致转向非法阿片类药物并刺激非法阿片类药物市场的增长。根据国家药物使用和健康调查中奥施康定重新配制前的滥用率来衡量，更容易受到重新配制的地区受到向非法阿片类药物过渡的影响更大，并且儿童自杀率增长更快。有证据表明，儿童非法阿片类药物的使用并未增加，这意味着非法阿片类药物危机增加了儿童的自杀风险因素，例如儿童被忽视的比例增加和家庭生活安排的改变，从而导致了更高的自杀倾向。在补充分析中，我记录了这一时期儿童的生活条件是如何下降的。